Imperator Mar’gok

Content

Imperator Mar’gok

As the grand Imperator of Highmaul, Mar’gok is descended from a long line of sorcerers who have ruled the Gorian Empire. Equal parts cunning and brutality, Mar’gok recognized the rising tide of the Iron Horde and what it would mean to oppose them. He has acquiesced to an alliance with Grommash, even as he continues to search for a way to tip the balance of power back into his favour…

Map – Final Boss in “The Imperator’s Fall”

List of Abilities

The fight against Imperator Mar’gok is split into four phases, with two intermission phases. The Imperator have only one set of abilities, but it changes character in each phase. That means that each phase is similar, but you deal with the mechanics in a slightly different way each time. Each phase also have a colour theme on each of the abilities. Phase one has blue-coloured spell effects, phase two has orange, three has pinkand the last phase has purple. I will deal with each phase one at a time.

Phase One: Might of the Crown (100-85% health)

Arcane WrathImperator Mar’gok blasts a random player with Arcane energy, branding them for 4 sec.
When the Branded expires it inflicts 47,774 Arcane damage to the wearer and jumps to their closest ally within 200 yards.
Each time Arcane Wrath jumps, its damage increases by 25% and range decreases by 50%.

Destructive ResonanceImperator Mar’gok summons an Arcane mine that persists for 1 minute.
If triggered, Destructive Resonance inflicts 61,777 Arcane damage to all players. In addition, this effect inflicts 144,146 Arcane damage to the player that triggered it, increases their Arcane damage taken by 45% for 1 min and stunning them for 1.50 sec whenever they take Arcane damage.

Mark of Chaos (Tank alert)Imperator Mar’gok marks a player with chaotic magic. After 8 sec, the magic explodes, inflicting 184,301 Arcane damage to their allies within 35 yards.

Force NovaImperator Mar’gok releases a nova of Arcane energy that inflicts 11,898 Arcane damage every 0.25 sec to all players within the nova’s area of effect.

Arcane Aberration

Healing Strategy – Phase One

Destructive Resonance (also called mine)

The first ability you will notice is Destructive Resonance. It is a mine which will spawn beneath the feet of a ranged player. The raid must avoid standing in these. Upon contact, Destructive Resonance will detonate and cause huge amount of damage. It also leaves a debuff on the detonator which makes the player take 45% more Arcane damage and become stunned every time he or she is hit by Arcane magic (which is pretty much all of the Imperator’s abilities). It is not lethal, but the damage will drain healers’ mana which they will sorely need towards the end of the fight.

Player marked with Arcane Wrath

Arcane Wrath is a debuff that affect a random player. The brand will try jump towards the nearest player, and each time it jumps it will deal 25% increased damage per jump/stack but have decreased jump range. If the brand has no one to jump to within range, it will expire. Since it starts with a jump range of 200 yds and decreases jump range with 50% each time, you will have to let it jump about 3-4 times before the branded player can run away with it. You can either deal with this by having the entire raid spread out and let Arcane Wrath dissipate when it can’t reach anyone anymore. Or you can have two designated players which run away with the brand (letting it jump between them) and once it reaches high enough stacks, these two designated players will split up and cause it to dissipate that way instead.

Whichever way you choose to deal with the brand, the affected player will take high damage. While the player is within range, you should put an Enveloping Mist on it, before he or she runs away out of range. Since the player will have to go out of range from healers to deal with the brand, the player is in danger of dying. HoT the player up to prevent that.

Tank branded with Mark of Chaos

The third ability the Imperator does is Mark of Chaos. Mark of Chaos is also a brand that only affects tanks. The brand has an 8 sec duration until detonation, which will most likely be fatal to anyone standing within the 35 yds range. Once the tank get the mark, he or she has to run away from the raid to prevent any deaths. Players should also be very observant of the tank with the mark, which shouldn’t be too difficult since the mark causes the tank to grow to twice its size.

Force Nova is the fourth signature move. It is a halo that grows outwards from the Imperator. The Nova will cause ticking damage every 0.25 sec to anyone within the area of effect. To decrease the damage, players should run through the nova, preferably with some sort of speed increase to minimize the time spent in the area of effect. Monks can also outmanoeuvre the Nova by using Transcendence. Have a spirit ready close to the Imperator and when the Nova has passed it, you can teleport through it without taking any damage.

Force Nova – run through it!

With every phase, the Imperator will also summon an Arcane Aberration. This add will do ticking AoE damage in the entire raid and should be killed as fast as possible. It isn’t too challenging at this point. HoT everyone up with Renewing Mist and a few Uplifts will fix the problem.

Serpent Tactics

Don’t step on Destructive Resonance, since they will detonate and cause huge damage (which can drain your mana dry in the long run).

Let Arcane Wrath jump 3-4 times before the affected player can run away with it and let it dissipate. The branded player will take increased damage, cast an Enveloping Mist on the player before he or she runs out of range.

Don’t stand close to a tank branded with Mark of Chaos. Standing within 35yds upon detonation will likely result in death.

Run through Force Nova to decrease damage. Tiger’s Lust and Roll are very helpful.

The adds will do ticking AoE damage on the raid. Cast Renewing Mist on the raid and heal with Uplift.

Crane Tactics (optional)

Standing in melee will require even better awareness of the Mark of Chaos branded tank.

Help kill the Arcane Aberration.

Phase Two: Rune of Displacement (85-55% health)

When Imperator Mar’gok reaches 85% health remaining, he activates the Rune of Displacement.

Arcane Wrath: DisplacementIn addition to Arcane Wrath’s normal effects, Branded Players are unable to move more than 10 yards from the location they were marked. Attempting to leave the marked area will teleport the player back to the location they were originally marked.

Displacing Arcane Aberration

Healing Strategy – Phase Two

At 85%, the Imperator will transition into phase two. He will keep the same set of abilities as in the first phase, but they will have an additional effect.

It’s orange and big this time

Destructive Resonance, the rune on the ground, will also grow to twice its size in thirty seconds. This means that the room will have even less space to manoeuvre. Players should be really alert on where the runes are. As said before, if too many are detonated in the first phases, the healers will not have enough mana for the last phases.

Arcane Wrath in this phase will also root players into the ground, in a 10 yard circle. If the player tries to run away from the circle, they will teleported back to the middle. Once it jumps, it will take a short moment before it roots the next player. The raid will have to run away from the branded players to get enough distance from the brand until it expires. It is also important to note that the rooted player within the circle doesn’t run around in it and teleports, since it could cause a player to become just in range for the brand. Just stand still until it either jumps or expires.

Arcane Wrath that roots the player in a 10yd circle

Mark of Chaos will cause the tank to spawn at a random location. The tank could end up with the ranged, which means that they have 8 sec to cover the 35yds distance before the brand explodes. Tiger’s Lust is almost a given.

Force Nova will this time also try to push you back, and essentially drag you across the room. It is possible to simply run through it, but it will take longer time to push through the nova. If you have a druid, you should use Stampeding Roar to quickly get the raid through it quickly.

The add is pretty much the same as the previous phase, except this time it will knock player back when it dies. Make sure you do not get knocked into a Destructive Resonance!

Serpent Tactics

Destructive Resonance will now grow to twice its size in 30 sec. The ranged players should place them well.

Arcane Wrath will root the branded player in a circle of 10 yd. If you try to leave the circle you’ll be teleported back to the middle. If branded, stand still until it jumps or expires.

Mark of Chaos will cause the tank to spawn at a random place. Be ready to run away quickly!

Force Nova will do a pushback. Roll through or use Tiger’s Lust (or use Transcendence).

Crane Tactics (optional)

The Arcane Aberration will do a knockback. Make sure you do not have a Destructive Resonance at your back, or you are in danger of getting knocked back into it.

Intermission: Dorman Runestones

When Imperator Mar’gok reached 55% health remaining, he begins to awaken the Rune of Fortification. The rune charged for 1 minute before releasing its power.

Volatile Anomaly

Healing Strategy – First Intermission

Warmage

Once Imperator hit 55%, he will start to awaken the Rune of Fortification. This is an intermission phase with 1 minute duration before the Imperator go into phase three. Several adds will spawn and you have to kill them quickly so they are not alive in phase three.

Two Gorian Warmages will spawn besides the entrance to the room (that are untankable). The mages will fixate on a random player and bombard them with arcane magic. The fixated player should run out of the raid to avoid causing more players getting hit by the spells. The raid should focus on killing one of them, while having designated DPS interrupting the second. The mages will also cast a Slow effect on random players, which are really annoying. Healers should dispel it as quickly as possible.

Volatile Anomalies

Meanwhile, several Volatile Anomalies will spawn which the tank should pick up. These adds will spawn every 12 seconds until the intermission phase is over. They should be killed after the Warmages. When they die, they will explode and cause very high damage to the entire raid. The best way is to kill one at a time to make sure the raid doesn’t take too much damage at the same time. This can be very difficult however. Healers should cooperate when the damage become very high but preferably only use one big healing cooldown. There will be another intermission phase with these again and then you will need another big healing cd.

Serpent Tactics

If fixated by the Warmage, stand away from the raid.

When Volatile Anomalies die they will explode and cause huge damage on the raid. Healers should designate healing cooldowns for this. Mistweavers will likely use Revival at this point.

Crane Tactics (optional)

Help interrupt the Warmages’ Nether Blast. Stuns do not work, so your only option is Spear Hand Strike.

Help cleave the Volatile Anomalies.

Phase Three: Rune of Fortification (55-25%)

Arcane Wrath: FortificationIn addition to Arcane Wrath’s normal effects, the jump range of Arcane Wrath is only decreased by 25% with each jump.

Mark of Chaos: Fortification (Tank alert)In addition to Mark of Chaos’ normal effects, the target is rooted in place.

Force Nova: FortificationIn addition to Force Nova’s normal effects, an additional nova is released every 8 sec, for 16 sec.

Fortified Arcane Aberration

Imperator Mar’gok summons a Fortified Arcane Aberration.

FortifiedFortified Arcane Aberrations are immune to all crowd-controlling effects and have 75% more health.

Healing Strategy – Phase Three

Pink Destructive Resonance

After one minute in the intermission phase, the Imperator will become active again. Once again he will possess the same set of abilities which are slightly different. His abilities will no longer possess the characteristics of phase two, but still have the “normal” effects of phase one.

In phase three, Destructive Resonance will have a duration of 2 minutes. It is really important that the ranged group place them in a good way; clumped up instead of spread over the entire room. You will need the space to manoeuvre.

Arcane Wrath will this time only decrease its jump range with 25% instead of 50%. There is a much higher risk of getting to high stacks of the brand (as a consequence of it jumping more times than usual). If you haven’t have had designated players for the brand before, you will at least need it in this phase. Have two fast players handling the mark and it won’t be a problem. Just remember to HoT them up before they are out of range.’

Instead of having Arcane Wrath targets rooted in this phase, the tanks will be rooted by Mark of Chaos. This means that the moment the tanks get the debuff, the whole raid must move away from the tank or be killed by the detonation.

Force Nova will now come in several waves, which means additional damage on the raid. More AoE healing will be required and you should blanket the raid with Renewing Mist. Cast several Uplifts between the waves!

It is a hectic phase and there will be an Arcane Abberration spawning as well, now with more health and it can no longer be CCed. The raid must burst it down as quickly as possible.

Serpent Tactics

The ranged group should place the Destructive Resonances as clumped up as possible to give the raid more room to manoeuvre.

Arcane Wrath will probably jump more times in this phase, which means higher damage on the affected players.

Tanks will be rooted by Mark of Chaos, the raid should run away from them!

There will be more Force Novas, make sure to blanket the raid with Renewing Mist and do several Uplifts between the novas.

Crane Tactics (optional)

The add will be immune to CC in this phase, make sure to help DPS kill it quickly.

Intermission: Lineage of Power

When Imperator Mar’gok reached 25% health remaining, he begins to awaken the rune of Replication. The rune charges 1 minute before releasing its power.

Gorian Reaver

Devastating ShockwaveGorian Reavers send a wave of force in a frontal cone, inflicting 184,301 Physical damage to all players within 20 yards.

Crush ArmorGorian Reavers crush a player, increasing their Physical damage taken by 15% for 25 sec. This effect stack.

Kick to the FaceGorian Reavers kick a player in the face, inflicting 147,235 Physical damage. This effect clears all threat and knocks the player back.

Volatile Anomaly

Healing Strategy – Second Intermission

Gorian Reaver

The second intermission phase is identical to the previous except for one thing: there will an additional add that is as evil as can be. Gorian Reaver is an add that will do extreme tank damage and during this phase you want to have a healer that completely focus the tanks. They both will take very high and bursty damage and they must be topped off until the Volatile Anomalies are killed and explode over the entire raid.

Serpent Tactics

Gorian Reavers will do extreme tank damage. Healers should cooperate and one should completely focus the tank while the others try to hold up the raid from the damage by Volatile Anomalies.

Phase Four: Rune of Replication (25-0% health)

Arcane Wrath: ReplicationIn addition to Arcane Wrath’s normal effects, a second player will be Branded the first time Arcane Wrath jumps.

Destructive Resonance: ReplicationIn addition to Destructive Resonance’s normal effects, two additional Destructive Resonances are created nearby when it detonates or expire.

Mark of Chaos: Replication (Tank alert)In addition to Mark of Chaos’ normal effects, 8 orbs of Chaos are conjured when Mark of Chaos expires. Each orb flies out from the wearer and inflicts 143,000 Arcane damage to all players that they move through.

Replicating Arcane Aberration

Healing Strategy – Phase 4

This is the hardest phase because it will be very healing intensive and if you haven’t been efficient with your mana, you’ll go OoM very fast. The most important thing is that you handle the mechanics in a calm and orderly fashion. Do not use the most expensive healing until you really have to, because you will need every bit of mana you can get.

These will be everywhere

First off, Destructive Resonance will now spawn two additional runes when they detonate. There will be runes all over the room and it’s more important than ever that people do not step in them.

Arcane Wrath will also duplicate, branding a second player after the first jump. The whole raid should be spread in this phase and keep very close eye of where the branded people are. You do not want it to jump too many times because that will likely result in a player’s death.

Orbs of Chaos

When Mark of Chaos detonate on the tank, it will also spawn eight arcane orbs that shoot out across the room. These need to be dodged by the raid, because they do very high damage. Do not dance into one of the mines however!

Force Nova will now cause all players within its area of effect to do damage to their allies within 4 yards. It looks like an exploding aura around you. If you have a player within 4 yards, you will most likely kill each other. The trick is to spread out, and you all don’t need to go through the Nova at once. It is better if only a few go through it at a time, which will not be hard to do since the whole raid will be spread anyway.

When in Force Nova’s area of effect, you will cause damage on nearby allies

The add will spawn remnants when it dies in this phase. There will be adds everywhere and tanks will take very high damage. Healers shouldn’t stand too far away from the tanks when adds are up, otherwise you risk losing the tank.

Serpent Tactics

Spread out the entire raid.

Destructive Resonance will spawn two additional runes when it expires or detonates.

Arcane Wrath will brand a second player on the first jump. That means that you will have two players will take very high damage from the brand.

Force Nova will cause each affected player to cause frequent damage to allies within 4 yards. Spread out!

Mark of Chaos will also spawn 8 Orbs of Chaos, which the raid must dodge.

Arcane Aberration will split into 7 remnants upon death. The tanks will take very high damage when the adds are up.

Crane Tactics (optional)

Before Force Nova comes, melees should spread out a little to minimize the risk of taking too much damage.

Cleave the adds with Spinning Crane Kick (if you have the mana), Chi Burst/Chi Wave and Rushing Jade Wind/Chi Torpedo, depending on your talent choice (Chi Explosion does not cleave damage, only healing).

Summary

Arcane Wrath

Phase One: Let Arcane Wrath jump till about 3-4 times before having designated players spread to let it expire, or just having the the raid run away from the branded player.

Phase Two: Arcane Wrath will root players to place with 10yd radius. Designated players must help the Branded by letting Arcane Wrath jump to them, then run away with it (before rooted). Raid should run away from affected players.

Phase Three: Arcane Wrath jump range is only decreased by 25% each jump. This means that it is likely to jump more times (about 5-6) and cause more damage to branded players.

Phase Four: A second player will be branded after the first time Arcane Wrath jumps. The whole raid should be spread in this phase.

Destructive Resonance

Phase One: A rune on the ground which detonates upon contact. Do not step in it!

Phase Two: The rune grows to twice its size in 30 sec.

Phase Three: Now has an increased duration of 2 minutes.

Phase Four: When the rune detonated or expires, two additional runes will spawn.

Mark of Chaos

Phase One: Mark of Chaos brands the tank. Anyone within 35yd will die when it detonates. Tank should run away from the raid and players should make sure to not stand within range (range radar is very helpful).

Phase Two: The branded tank will spawn at a random location once branded.

Phase Three: The tank is rooted! The raid has 8 seconds to get 35yds away!

Phase Four: Mark of Chaos also spawn 8 flying orbs upon detonation. The raid has to dodge these or take huge damage.

Force Nova

Phase One: Imperator will do a huge halo called Force Nova, that grows outwards. Run through it to decrease damage (it ticks once every 0.25 sec).

Phase Two: Force Nova will also do a pushback. Use a speed increase to reduce time spent in the area of effect.

Phase Three: Several Novas will spawn at an interval.

Phase Four: Causes everyone to deal damage to allies within 4 yards. The whole raid has to spread before running through the Nova, otherwise players will take huge damage.